Chapter Three
The sun was directly overhead when we met up for lunch, or at least Karl and Sabine showed up, I chose not to comment at all when they let go of each other’s hands right as I saw them. We were all getting our food when my phone went off, and it was Carlos saying they were on a line for a ride and would be late. He also said they’d met up with some other teens and would eat with them after they checked in with us.
“Looks like we’re on our own for lunch.”
At William’s questioning look I handed him my phone. He didn’t look too worried about his sister when he handed it back, and I knew Carlos was responsible, so I decided to let it go. I was building a community for us, not a dictatorship, so I blew it off as well even if I really didn’t want to. It was a hard edge to ride, I wanted a supportive community, but in a lot of ways they were still just kids.
Hell, I still felt too young for this life of mine half the time.
They didn’t grow up in violence like I did, their sixteen was so much younger than mine had been, and being forced to grow up quickly would cause angst, but on the other side it wasn’t that big a deal, was it? It was just lunch. I supposed my worry was they did need a little herding from me, but I wasn’t sure where that line was. Better to just leave it to William, Cindy, and Maria, but it wasn’t so clear cut out here when two of them weren’t around and I was responsible for their safety.
I grimaced, I really did need to stop worrying so much, I didn’t like the anxiety ridden person I was turning into with this new responsibility, even if it probably said good things about me. They all meant more to me already, than simple tools to piss off the councils and as proof to the human world we weren’t born wrong and evil when the apocalypse didn’t come.
“You guys having fun?” I asked as I sat at the table.
Sabine grinned, “A blast, thanks for taking us.”
Karl nodded in agreement with Sabine, and thanks for us.
“You’re welcome. Any problems?”
Karl shook his head, “Nope, but I’ll let you know after lunch and I hit a crazy ride.”
Sabine made a face, “Gross.”
I laughed.
William teased, “Can’t hold your lunch?”
Karl smirked, “We’ll see.”
The cynical side of me thought we should take videos of having fun here, and then post it to show we were just normal people, but I dismissed it. This was supposed to be our time off to destress, not a photo-op.
Sabine sighed, “Trying to eat here.”
I laughed harder, “Agreed, no more talk of uncivilized bodily functions until we’re done eating.”
Karl mock saluted, “Yes, maam.”
I gave Sabine a significant look, and she elbowed him in the side which made us share a grin as he smirked and tried to subtly rub his side.
The conversation paused as we chowed down our food, it was then that I felt a shifter walk by, but only one among the group he was with. Karl, Sabine, and I exchanged looks, they looked worried I’d call the day, but I just shrugged in response.
It was just one, and the only one of us he would’ve scented would be my quarter witch scent mixed in with human, so it’d be fine. If nothing else, I trusted my magic to keep them hidden, and if a mistake was made one shifter wouldn’t be a threat.
We were just finishing up lunch when my phone went off, just a second or two before I saw the smoke rising in the distance.
Oh hell, so much for my anxiety being wasted energy.
I sighed as I read the text, “Day’s over folks. You two need to leave more subtly than the others did, find a concealed spot and gateway home. Take Billy with you, I’m going to see what I can do, if anything.”
William frowned, “I’ll stay with you.”
Karl asked worriedly, “What happened?” while trying to hide his disappointment.
“Not sure yet, just says that Linda lost control of her magic and they bailed, we’ll talk about it when I get home.”
Sabine said, “Sorry.”
I shook my head, “Not your fault, I’d let you stay if the place wasn’t going to be riddled by council shortly.”
Even then, they’d probably be fine, they were hidden behind my enchantments and had the best control out of the five half-demon kids in the group, but I wouldn’t risk it so they could continue their date. There’d be other days, and they could spend time alone at home in my mound.
They both got up, and headed toward the bathrooms, good enough.
I stood up and walked toward the smoke with William at my side, which everyone else was moving away from, but it was quite a bit away. People looked concerned, but not all that panicked about it yet. Great Adventure was huge, and it was a good hike to get there. When we got close, I could see it was the other food court, but they already had emergency workers putting out the fire with a fire hose.
Which was fine with me, that meant I didn’t have to burn my redhead disguise putting out the fires. I couldn’t sense any other supernaturals either. There was also a distinct lack of bodies or wounded, but for all I knew the park security and EMTs had already pulled them out.
“You two need to move on, the fire is under control, and there’s another food court on the other side of the park,” one of the security guards said.
“Was anyone hurt?”
He said, “A few light burns. They’re being treated already.”
Light burns? From Hellfire? Not likely.
I turned and walked away, and went towards the front of the park, the small emergency medical building was by the front gate.
William asked, “What are you going to do?”
“Check it out, under stealth. You’ll have to wait for me, unless you want to go back now.”
He shook his head stubbornly, “I’ll go when you do.”
I wanted to argue he couldn’t help, or would just be in the way, but in truth I appreciated his calmly protective presence even if it didn’t make sense to feel that way about it. It warmed me, and at the same time it was keeping me calm enough not to lose it.
I was pissed off, which was another good reason to investigate, so I didn’t tear Linda’s damned fool head off when I caught up to her to get her explanation. I needed to cool off first, I knew there’d been a danger and I’d agreed to this anyway. The kids didn’t have full control of their powers yet, I just never imagined something less than a supernatural attack would’ve triggered them.
The building had security out front when we arrived.
“I’ll be right back.”
I walked into the bathroom across the wide path from the emergency building, and cloaked. I only had a couple of minutes with my weaker fae magic, so I didn’t dawdle as I ran out and across to the other building.
Bile rose in the back of my throat, at the scent of burned flesh, and it didn’t take me long to find the room they were in. Three human teens, one of them almost completely covered with burns, while the other two had third degree burns as well but on less than ten percent of their bodies. The EMT’s were working desperately on the one worst off, while the other two looked on in angry horror.
I felt like a fool, for allowing Celeste to talk me into this. They weren’t ready to be in public, to control their minds with discipline.
For us, thought was deed, which brought a whole new meaning to the saying if looks could kill. In our case, uncontrolled, we very much could kill with an angry look.
I dropped my stealth as well as the necklace enchantment, so I’d look like myself. Perhaps a doomed attempt at preserving my redhead’s identity, but it wasn’t worth an innocent life to preserve, and they might not connect me to it anyway.
The two awake kids screamed, and the EMTs looked at me angrily and with fear in their eyes.
“Healing potions,” I offered in explanation, “It’s his only chance. You know he’s only moments away from dying from shock.”
One of the EMT’s left the room, while the other nodded warily.
; I poured a healing potion down his throat, then followed that up with a pain blocking potion, one of my newer creations. That wouldn’t help with the shock though, I just had to hope the healing potion would stabilize him long enough for him to heal.
I pulled out two more potions for the other kids.
The young woman yelled, “Get away from me!”
I nodded, “You’ll heal without it, but you’ll scar. A healing potion will make you as good as new.”
I hoped her sense of vanity would overcome her fear, and I was right, though she shivered and shook when I got close enough to hand it to her. The guy was scared as well, but would probably rather die than admit it, so he took the potion and drank it without complaint.
The EMT growled, “Did you do this?”
I shook my head, “Of course not,” while the girl said, “No, it was a short golden blonde psychopath.”
“I was on the other side of the park, and I decided to volunteer a few potions if anyone was harmed. I’m an alchemist.”
The boy said, “Oh shit, she’s the one on TV. The half-demon from Portland, and that fight in Philadelphia.”
I nodded, “True. I’m sorry this happened, and the one that did it will be punished.”
I should’ve just left, but I wanted to make sure the heavily burned one would live first.
“She’s crazy,” the young woman said in a small voice.
I sighed. This wasn’t a good thing, it wasn’t even in self-defense, or because we were attacked. I wasn’t sure what to do about it, but I needed to find out what really happened first.
Our kind was dangerous. The Nephilim were self-righteous hypocritical lying assholes, but they also had a well-regimented society to watch over and keep their young in line until they could control themselves.
Was that what I had to do? The thought didn’t appeal to me at all, there had to be a better way, but in that moment I had no idea what that could be. Outside of isolation until their training was completed.
Maybe I was wrong to let my feelings and Celeste’s argument to sway me, clearly they weren’t ready for even a fun day at the park. Yet… that didn’t mean Celeste had been wrong either. I’d have to figure out another outlet for them to destress, one that wouldn’t endanger humans.
“She’s angry, and she has cause to be, but there’s no excuse for this. What happened?”
She looked away from my gaze, “I’m really not sure, I was talking to Carlos when it happened. I know Linda and Celeste were arguing, it was right after they’d gotten back from the restroom and joined us in line to pick up lunch. Then there was fire. Most of it hit Cam, but some of it jumped onto us and the building. I think we’d have all died, if Carlos hadn’t done what he did.”
She shuddered.
The boy nodded, “At first I thought he was trying to burn us too, but somehow his fire put out Linda’s and didn’t burn us, but the food shack behind us went up. Then they ran.”
“Do you know what the argument was about, what set her off?”
He replied, “Not really, there was no context to their argument in the part we heard. Cam just told them to calm down and relax. That’s when Linda lost it. We didn’t know what they were, they seemed so normal.”
I sighed, “They are normal, with the same human emotions you all have, except when you get pissed at someone you don’t shoot fire. They shouldn’t either of course,” I turned to the EMT, “How is he. I can’t be here when the council arrives, or things won’t… go well.”
The EMT said, “He’s stabilized I think, still in shock but his pulse and respiration are almost normal. Ambulance will be here soon.”
I turned to go, and there were several security guards around the entrance. I ignored their glares as I walked out, and opened a gateway as soon as I was at William’s side. We walked through, and it snapped shut behind us.
He said, “Everything alright?”
“No one is dead, if that’s what you’re asking, but it’s not good.”
Linda looked relieved by that for just a second, but then her face grew hard as she pretended she didn’t care. All five of them were still there, at the gateway point we used, looking worried.
“What was the argument about, that almost led to the death of an innocent young man?”
Linda scowled, and Celeste’s guilt face turned toward the field, as if she found my herb garden suddenly fascinating.
“Clearly, I had a lapse in judgment. I haven’t decided what to do about it yet, but you’re not ready to be around humans if you can’t control yourself. We’ll have to figure out another way to handle your stress levels, and any feelings of isolation. Well, what was it that had you so angry you’d kill a boy for saying something stupid. Men say stupid shit all the time, we can’t go around burning them to death for it.”
William and Karl glared, but I just shrugged in my defense, while Sabine snickered.
Linda refused to answer, and I looked at Celeste and raised an eyebrow, “What was it about?”
Celeste shrugged, “It was stupid, but we were both angry over it. She lost control.”
William said, “Celeste, what was it about?”
I looked toward Carlos, but he didn’t look like he knew either, so maybe the kid hadn’t been lying when he said there’d been no context in the part they’d heard, at the end of the fight.
Celeste bit her lip, “You. It was about you, and your rules. I was defending you, she was trying to make me see it her way.”
Oh, I could see why she didn’t want to admit she was defending me.
“What about them?”
Linda scowled, “They want us dead. We should be fighting back, not hiding, and certainly not sparing the lives of those that come to kill us.”
“It’s not that simple.”
Linda shook her head, “it is.”
“Is not.”
William snickered.
Linda glared.
I said slowly, in a cold voice, “Linda, let me be blunt. They all want us dead. Every single one of the seven plus billion people on the planet want us dead with few exceptions, and most of them are in my mound with us right now. We can’t kill them all. The humans want us dead out of fear, because of the Nephilim’s lies that we’re born evil, hate humans, and want to destroy the world. The outsiders want us dead because that’s the law, and the Nephilim and councils scare the shit out of them. If they don’t stay in line, the councils will execute them. The upper class packs, covens, and mounds want us dead because the Nephilim tell them lies, as does the councils themselves. In the end, it’s all about the Nephilim and their lies, they are our one true enemy, and I’m not convinced that even some of them haven’t swallowed the lies of the older Nephilim in charge.
“If a shifter refused orders from the council leaders, and didn’t come to kill us, they would be executed for treason. They’re in a shitty no win situation, and we aren’t going to win people over by killing anyone we run across and burning down anything that gets in our way.
“All you did today was harm a boy, and you made the possibility of changing the human’s opinion of us to a more positive outlook harder.”
I paused for a minute.
“Our only chance is to sway human opinion, and we can’t do that with violence. They’ll label us as evil, or at the very least as terrorists that need to be stopped. Humans are the only thing the Nephilim fear, losing their reputations and the perch they rule the supernatural world from with an iron fist. We defend ourselves when we have to, kill only our true enemy where possible, and otherwise we need to focus on public human perception. I have plans for that, but the Nephilim will never lose if we don’t prove we’re better than them, if we don’t live good lives that proves their lying about us.”
Linda snorted, “That’s all very vague, when is it supposed to happen, and how do you see it happening? They are bastards, and they’ll never share the top spot with us.”
I nodded in agreement, “I’m not entirely sure, but I have
a few guesses.
“The first goal is to change public perception, to pressure the Nephilim to end their hunts. They’ll have to come to the table then, and deal with us non-violently. You’re also right, they’ll never accept us in a co-position of authority, which is more than fine with me. I don’t want it. They’ll want to fold us under their authority, that’s not an option either, I’d never trust them to judge us fairly.
“What I’m trying to create here, as I rescue young half-demons being hunted, is a new supernatural community. Something separate that will not integrate with the councils at all. We’ll be outsiders, but not outsiders under the authority of the council, we’ll be in control of our own community. That’s it for a start, though I suspect things will change further naturally.”
“How?” Celeste asked curiously.
I shrugged, “I’m not sure what our society will ultimately look like, and it’s not completely up to me either. But I suspect some outsiders may eventually not only accept us but seek us out to take shelter under our umbrella of authority, instead of the councils. But that might never happen, and if it does it won’t be for decades, if not centuries.”
Linda replied, “So, how do we do that?”
I snorted, “Two ways. The first, by not killing everyone that pisses us off, which means learning to control our powers before we do anything like we just tried today. It’s partially my fault, you obviously weren’t ready to be around humans, or control your power under temper. The second way is more active, William and I were just discussing some possibilities that way.
“All that involves is getting in the public eye, in non-violent and even helpful ways. Supporting charity, donating potions for the poor who are in dire need and sick, or any number of other things. Then post it online after the fact. We obviously can’t do that stuff live, or the council will show up and attack us, which can’t be allowed to happen.
“The Nephilim’s lies to keep from sharing power with us, and to make sure we’re killed, are outrageous and entirely dependent on emotional manipulation. Just the fact we’re here, and the world hasn’t ended yet, will slowly tear those lies away. It will expose their evil, and make people question their contention they must attack immediately to save the world, and collateral damage is unavoidable. That will show them to be the heartless murderers through ambition and corruption. They’ll lose the humans first, then the outsiders, then the high supernatural society, it’s inevitable.”
Demon Underground: Kyra Bell Book Three Page 3
